Milacron gets new private equity owner

By: Bill Bregar

March 30, 2012

CINCINNATI (March 30, 11:25 a.m. ET) — Milacron LLC, the only U.S.-based broad-line manufacturer of primary plastics equipment, will get a new private-equity owner — in news announced just before NPE2012.

Avenue Capital Group will sell the Cincinnati-based Milacron to CCMP Capital Advisors LLC, under an agreement announced March 30. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2012. Both private equity firms are based in New York.

NPE runs April 1-5 in Orlando, Fla.

Terms were not disclosed. Avenue Capital and three other investment firms bought Milacron out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 for $175 million.

Milacron generated about $780 million in sales for 2011, more than 20 percent higher than 2010, officials said. The Cincinnati-based machinery maker employs 2,848 people around the world. The company has factories in the United States, Germany, India and China

In southwestern Ohio, Milacron employs 805 people at its main assembly plant in Batavia and machining plant in Mount Orab.

Milacron filed for Chapter 11 on March 10, 2009, suffering from a liquidity crisis under substantial debt. Five months later, Milacron emerged with the new ownership, as a private company. Avenue Capital later bought out the other investors to become sole owner.

Milacron reorganized its balance sheet, shedding more than $500 million in liabilities. Avenue Capital officials said Milacron reinvested about $40 million into the company in equipment and research and development in 2010 and 2011.

At the same time, the machinery market has rebounded strongly from a punishing recession.

“Today Milacron’s growth prospects are stronger than ever,” Milacron CEO Dennis Smith said in a news release. “With renewed financial stability and CCMP’s support, we expect to continue to expand our market share, extend our global reach and invest in technologies to meet our customers’ needs around the world over the long term.”

Smith said the sale “reflects the positive progress and the strength of the company.”

“At this point in the business cycle, I think there will be some more of this activity. The horizon looks very different than it did a year ago. The numbers I’ve seen for plastics machinery look pretty robust,” said Wood, who runs Mountaintop Economics and Research in Greenfield, Mass.

CCMP Capital Advisors specializes in upper-middle market buyouts and equity investments of $100 million to $500 million in the United States and Europe.

Tim Walsh, managing director of CCMP and co-head of its industrials group, said the firm will help Milacron execute its plans for growth.

“Through its high-quality plastics processing equipment and industrial fluids products, attention to customer service and strong strategic leadership of Dennis and his team, we believe Milacron is very well positioned to continue growing around the world and particularly in North America and emerging markets,” Walsh said in the release.

CCMP and Milacron said Milacron’s management team will continue with the company, which will remain headquartered in Cincinnati.